Extreme Makeover

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

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If you are an athlete and everything is coming together and every putt goes in and every free throw swishes through the net you are sometimes said to be “in the zone”. It feels like you can’t miss.  If you are a musician or a choir you want to be “in tune”, because if you are not the music just doesn’t work. (Right Randy?)

All of us know what it means to be “in the doghouse” or “in a funk” or “in hot water”, or “in over our heads”.  All of us know people who are “into themselves”.   President H.W. Bush once said he was “in “deep do-do” and we’ve all been there.  Many of us even know what it means to be “in love”, but what does it mean to be “in Christ”.

This expression is used by the Apostle Paul 164 times to describe the spiritual reality of those who are sincere disciples of Jesus Christ.  Neither he nor Jesus ever use the word Christian to and in fact it can be found only be found three times in all of the New Testament, yet that’s how most of us refer to ourselves. I think we mostly use that term to identify which team we are on.

To be “in Christ” sounds more intimate and even mystical and we are really sure what that means, but that’s where we are going today. First, let us pray:

Lord, we come to you drawn by something deep inside that we can hardly put into words. So, we are unsure about how this need can be met and how our questions can be answered.  Speak to us now, we pray, by your Word and through your Spirit, so that we may be born from above through water and the Spirit.   Amen.

This is the time of the year when after a holiday season filled with eggnog and Christmas cookies people are feeling a little bloated and out of shape.  So, they make their new year’s resolution to eat less and exercise more. You see a lot of gyms and fitness centers advertise because they know this is when people might be willing to spend some money to achieve that goal.  My gym has a bulletin board with before and after pictures of clients who have been successful, who have lost a lot of weight and toned up. To date they have not taken my picture and put it up. They have not asked me to flex and pose for the camera.

But, I do work out sometimes will see the sales person take potential clients to that wall with those before and after pictures and hear them say, “You too can look like this – just sign here.”  And they’re eyes will get big and they’ll write a big check and they show up in their brand new shoes and brand new shorts and brand new t-shirts with the gym’s logo on the front. You’ll see them in January and February and the gym will get pretty crowded, but then March comes and fewer and fewer show up, because it is hard and the changes people hoped to see were not coming fast enough.  They get discouraged and tell themselves, “I guess this is as good as I’m going to get.”

Most of us have been there and we’ve looked at our spiritual life the same way. We’ve tried to overcome bad habits and sticky sins that follow wherever we go.  We’ve had the best of intentions, but as the Bible says, “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”  Like those lapsed weekend warriors we tell ourselves, “I guess this is as good as I’m going to get.”

That’s what makes this scripture verse so hard to understand, because the Bible does not say Christ just wants to help you overcome some bad habits, just want to help you tweak your spiritual life and make some small adjustments to help you cope a little better. The Bible says, “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away and everything new has come.”

This is bold death and resurrection language. This is radical transformation.  This is light and darkness dichotomy.  It is either/or, not both/and.  It is what Jesus was talking about when he said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again.”

This is where Presbyterians in particular begin to tug at their collars and look away because this is not the way we usually describe our own spiritual formation.  I know because I’ve been asking this question for thirty years, “What have been the significant people, events, and experiences that led you to Christ and have shaped your soul?”

While we love to sing “Amazing Grace” most do not think of themselves as a “wretch in need of salvation” or that they were, “once was lost and now am found, blind and now can see”.  That does not describes the origin of their faith.  Few see themselves as the prodigal son wasting away in the far country of sin and scandal until that time when they decided to run home and into the forgiving arms of the Father. Fewer still can share a story like Saul of Tarsus who on his way to Damascus to arrest, jail, and ultimately execute newly minted disciples was struck blind by the Lord and knocked off his high horse while hearing a booming accusation, “Saul, Saul why art thou persecuting me?” So, dramatic was this conversion experience Saul was given a new name, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ.

 Instead, when I ask what are the significant people, events, and experiences that have shaped your faith I hear language that describes a journey. “Inch by inch, and step by step, day by day I am where I am today.”  For them this was not a singular moment.  There was no booming voice.  It was more like a whisper calling them this way or that.

I remember years ago talking to a member of my church who was going to  apply to Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University in Lynchburg Virginia and he said on the application there was a place for his date of birth which is common enough and then right below it asked for his date of rebirth, when he was born again.  They wanted a year, a month, a day, and an hour so he never sent the application in, because he could not point to a date and time.  Afterward he began to question his faith. Since he had no dramatic experience he wondered if he was really a Christian or “in Christ”.

Looking back I wish I had pointed him to this verse for although it uses bold old and new creation language at no place does it refer to timing. It never says how long this should take.

Most of you probably do not recognize the name Paul David Hewson. Some of you may know him by his stage name - Bono.  His claim to fame came as the leader of a popular rock band called U2, but later became even more well-known as a philanthropist who uses both his wealth and notoriety to aid the impoverished in Africa.  He has worked with President George W. Bush to address the problem of Aids in that continent. He has said his motivation behind his service is entirely spiritual.

Of that he said, “Your nature is a hard thing to change; it takes time.  I have heard of people who have life-changing, miraculous turnarounds, people set free from addiction after a single prayer, relationships saved where both parties "let go, and let God." But it was not like that for me. For all that "I was lost, I am found," it is probably more accurate to say, "I was really lost. I'm a little less so at the moment." And then a little less and a little less again. That to me is the spiritual life. The slow reworking and rebooting the computer at regular intervals, reading the small print of the service manual. It has slowly rebuilt me in a better image. It has taken years, though, and it is not over yet.”

That is what I think the Bible means when it speaks of being “in Christ”.  It is the difference between the feeling young people get when their eyes meet for the first time across a crowded room at a party and then immediately feel like they’ve fallen in love and the couple who have been married fifty years and seen their love challenged in countless ways through the decades yet still grow through the experience of life together.

To be “in Christ” is organic.  It does connect you in a deep and profound way with God and it reveals itself and in deeper and more profound relationship with the community of faith and with the world in which we live.

And new life in Christ leads inevitably to a new lifestyle, with a new value system and new moral standards, as becomes plain to those who read the Sermon on the Mount.

In that Sermon, Jesus sets before us a choice between two value systems—his own and the world’s.

The world admires the powerful, the successful, the tough and the brash, the achievers and the go-getters. But Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” who are humble before God.”

“Blessed are the meek,” who are humble towards one another while the world is concerned with appearances, external conformity to conventions, rules and regulations.

Jesus again and again talks about the heart, “The pure in heart,” or “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

The world’s philosophy is, “Give as good as you get. Love those who love you and repay evil for evil.” But Jesus still says, “Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, do good to those who hate you, overcome evil with good.”

The mind-set of the world is extremely materialistic, covetous for consumer goods. But Jesus says, “Don’t be anxious about what to eat and drink and wear. Instead, seek first God’s rule and God’s righteousness.”

We have no liberty to dismiss the teachings of Jesus as unpractical and unrealistic, or to convert it into a prudential little middle-class respectability.

Jesus says to us, “You’ve got to choose. Nobody can serve two masters.” We have to choose between him and the world—between the broad road that leads to the destruction and the narrow way that leads to life.

Today and every day this year you will face many decisions.  Most of them will be minor, do I order sausage or bacon with my eggs?  Do I buy the green or yellow shirt?  Some of these decisions will be major. Do I get married, get divorced, change jobs, move, or retire?

One of these decisions may have eternal consequence. Do I follow Jesus? Do I live “in Christ”?  Am I willing to become a new creation and let go of old habits and sticky sins? Am I willing to be reconciled with God and reconcile with those whom I have hurt and who may have hurt me?  Think about those as we pray:

Through many dangers, toils, and snares we have come, O Lord, and your grace has brought us safe thus far, and your grace will lead us home. So we look forward to this coming year confident that you have promise good to us, your Word our hope secures; you will our shield and portion be as long as life endures. Amen.